NASA Is Studying a Private Mission to Boost Hubble’s Orbit. Is It Worth the Risk?

For more than 30 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been breaking new ground in astronomy, cosmology and planetary science, delivering results that few other facilities can match. Thanks to a series of repair and servicing missions by NASA astronauts, no other observatory has been able to maintain such consistent high performance for so long.

Between 1993 and 2009, NASA staged five space shuttle missions to Hubble to upgrade science instruments, replace failed systems and boost Hubble's altitude, which naturally decays over time because of the tenuous outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere. Hubble was left in a slow but steady descent after servicing missions ceased. NASA says the telescope has a 50% chance of falling back into the atmosphere in 2037.

Commercial spaceflight is emerging as a new hope for Hubble. One of the company's Dragon capsules could be used to fly to the Hubble Telescope at little-to-no cost to taxpayers. It would be a good thing to do for science and research around the world.

The proposed rendezvous is part of the Polaris Program, which is expected to conclude with the first crewed voyage aboard Starship, a gigantic Multipurpose and Reusable Space transportation system now being developed by SpaceX. Isaacman and three crewmates plan to conduct a spacewalk, a first by private astronauts, and to break the high-altitude record for a crewed spaceship in Earth's atmosphere.

NASA is very much invested in the company that has come to dominate the spaceflight industry. The agency staged its fifth and final space-shuttle servicing call to Hubble in May 2009, but it was still three years away from the first docking of a Dragon capsule at the International Space Station. 70 percent of the rockets that have been recovered and reflown have been used by the company. There have been 33 dockings of the Dragon capsule with cargo and crews at the station. The first free-flying crewed Dragon mission was completed by the company.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA is run by the California Institute of Technology, which now spends more money with SpaceX than any other organization. NASA contracts to launch high-priority science projects, as well as cargo flights to cislunar space, and a demonstration of Starship-based transportation, are held by Musk's company.

The U.S. military, commercial customers and foreign governments are some of the clients that are serviced by the company. Starlink is the world's largest satellite constellation and is manufactured, launched and operated by the company. The Federal Communications Commission approved the expansion of the Starlink network with almost 9000 more satellites.

NASA took the proposal seriously because of all of which. A six-month feasibility study will be launched after the space agency signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement with Musk's company. NASA's science chief told reporters during a September 29 conference call that they were working on crazy ideas. This is compelling and we are always supposed to push the envelope.

NASA hoped that its final shuttle-servicing mission to Hubble would extend the observatory's life to at least 2014. Hubble didn't fly until December 2021. Hubble is expected to remain operational for at least the next two decades. Patrick Crouse, Hubble's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., says, "We're able to forecast what the problems are most likely to be, and begin working on those issues ahead of time."

Engineers have developed techniques to point Hubble and lock on targets even if guidance hardware doesn't work. Three of the observatory's six gyros are operational, but all of them are upgraded and more robust than the ones that have stopped working.

There are a lot of components that are past their expected life for radiation and can fail. Due to radiation, we might see some degradation, but it would be a graceful failure of the system. He thinks it will be a horse race if we can make it out to the 2030s.

Hubble is not the only thing that is degrading. Since the last boost in 2009, the telescope has been drifting downward by more than 30 kilometers.

Between 600 and 610 kilometers above Earth is where the Hubble would be boosted. The study will look at Dragon's technical capabilities and the potential risks to Hubble.

The six-member, all- Goddard study team was appointed on October 19 and will consider potential additional services. We haven't looked at anything specific at this time.

There are other U.S. spaceships that can reach Hubble. Boeing and Sierra Space are developing suitable spaceships for missions in low- Earth orbit. One of NASA's own capsule was considered to fly to Hubble. Zurbuchen said that they will look at any and all options that are in the best interests of the taxpayer.

Without knowing what the future would bring, as NASA wound down the shuttle program, it laid the groundwork for other missions to visit Hubble. The last crew fitted the telescope with a docking ring and navigation targets so that a vehicle without a robot arm could attach itself to Hubble. The observatory was mounted on a work platform in the cargo bay after the shuttle missions grappled the telescope with a 15-meter long arm.

NASA assumed that Hubble would need to be visited again at the end of its life. The purpose of a rendezvous is to install a module that will help the telescope plunge into the atmosphere. Whether Hubble would fall to Earth or linger on high, such a mission would minimize the chance of any damage from the telescope's demise.

Scott Altman, who commanded the last two Hubble servicing missions, says that they will need to go to Hubble in the next 15 years.

First do no harm. The president of ASRC Federal says that there is a great observatory up there. Don't rush, that's the thing I learned more from Hubble. The race was won by slow and steady.

It is possible that NASA will pass on the proposal. Hubble is doing well and its decay isn't a big deal. Even if a Dragon mission to Hubble proves feasible and relatively low-risk, the observatory could run into a problem that affects the Polaris Program.

John Grunsfeld, an astronomer who served on Hubble's last three servicing missions, thinks that NASA could use a Dragon reboost flight to collect data for future servicing calls.

One of the ideas I had with the company was to use Starship to grab the Hubble Telescope and bring it back to Earth.

He thinks that a Dragon reboost would be relatively low-risk if they only do it. There is a chance that you could break a solar array. Hubble was not designed to be as strong as the space station.

There are many things that need to be figured out. How can you leave Hubble in a better state than it is right now?